Parody of Fr Thomas Reese receiving the news of Dolan's election

Words and meaning, why eliminating the R word is not enough for me

Read my column in Renew America on why forbidding the words mentally retarded is not going to help raise respect for those with Down syndrome sufficiently to change anything.

Archbishop Dolan's election; Why it is a victory for the blogosphere

The  religion correspondent on NPR was dismayed by Archbishop Dolan's surprise election. citing the influence the  Catholic blogosphere had  and reminding Americans of the influence that the USCCB had on drafting the Stupak Amendment to Obamacare.   Liberal Kicanas was considered a sure thing, until he lost the election to Archbishop Dolan 128-111 in an upset which hasn't occurred since 1960. 

Archbishop Dolan is no liberal, he walks softly but he carries a big stick.  What does this mean?

According to Rocco Palmo of Whispers in the Loggia, quoted by CNA

It represents a seismic shift,” Palmo said. “Above all, it's an indication of everything Cardinal George has been and done over his tenure the last three years in really kind of raising the level of bishops' outspokenness in moral clarity and moral courage, especially in the health care fight.”

It's also an indication of Archbishop Dolan's rising position, he said. The New York archbishop “has been unstintingly strong in his defense of the Holy Father and the defense of the right of Catholics to be treated fairly in the press, as he sees it.”

“Literally, it feels like the world is watching,” Palmo added. “Word is already going around.”

No more softball for pro-death, pro-same sex marriage Catholic politicians. Jill Stanek quoted the AP (see below) who gives credit to 'right-wing Catholic bloggers' who campaigned against Bishop Kicanas, and urged their readers to do the same at the hotel in Baltimore where they were staying for the conference. 

The vox populi has been heard!

It is the first time since the 1960s that a sitting vice president was on the ballot for president and lost. It follows protests by some conservative Catholics against the vice president, Tucson BishopGerald Kicanas….

Bishop Kicanas has not denied Communion to any Catholic politicians and rejected calls to punish the president of the University of Notre Dame for honoring President Obama, who supports abortion rights. Bishop Kicanas instead urged bishops and Catholic university presidents to start a discussion about their differences.

Partly because of Bishop Kicanas’ approach, he was pilloried in the days leading up to the vote by right-wing Catholic bloggers, who urged readers to send protest faxes and leave messages for bishops at the hotel where they are meeting….

Read the entire post at Jill Stanek's blog.

Newsweek has a fair piece on Brian Brown and NOM

I met Brian at the All Hallow's Eve celebration at the Friary in Griswold. He and his wife Susan, and their soon to be seven children have returned to the close Catholic community in the Northeast where they lived three years ago. I am a newcomer, so I hadn't met them before. Christina introduced us, fascinated by the grey bunny peeking out of Brian's coat pocket. He told us it was part of his daughter's St Elizabeth of Hungary costume. Christina was dressed as St Elizabeth too(let's face it, all girls want to be the princess saints, sooner or later) but including a rabbit was an original idea, making an instant hit with the children waiting in line for the potluck dinner.

I caught up with Brian later that evening, as he and Fra Roderick were discussing a particularly contentious demonstration he led in Providence. National Organization for Marriage was peacefully speaking at the Capitol Building, and gay activists were loudly blocking him from being heard and harassing demonstrators, including the couple's six children. Susan told Newsweek about it here,

At an event in Providence, R.I., she says, “they walked up to my kids and asked them, ‘Is Mommy raising you to be a good little bigot?’?” Yet she says she understands the frustration behind those remarks. “They believe in this as deeply as we do,” she says. “I see why we’d get under their skin.”

 I shared some of the ugly responses I receive each time I address the issue of same sex marriage here on Causa Nostrae Laetitiae, and Brian agreed the tone is more intense than what pro-life activists face. Yet, he and Susan maintain an admirable sense of balance, fueled no doubt by their fervent Catholicism, a supportive community behind them, and their strong family.
Last Friday, I had a chance to meet Susan at a rosary group of ladies from the Friary, and soon she had the group doubled over with laughter at her hilarious description of what she had to do to take the perfect family Christmas photo. Looking at it on my friend's refrigerator, with six angelic children dressed in white, a seasoned mother nods knowingly. This was not easy. 
 Humor and prayer, the perfect counterbalance to a challenging apostolate, with often frightening opposition.

Brian Brown’s hate mail is divided into two categories: messages that go straight to the police and those he dumps into a growing computer file labeled OPPOSITION. One riled caller threatened to hang him from a tree “and burn you while your children watch”; someone else sent an e-mail offering to “donate” a pipe bomb to his office. The majority, however, simply vent frustration at Brown, who has emerged as the nation’s fiercest crusader against gay marriage.

I wouldn't call the man with the bunny in his pocket and the broad smile fierce. But he is determined. And he is successful. Newsweek said, " in the 31 states where gay marriage has been put to a vote, it’s lost every time." The only place same sex marriage has been approved is in states like CT and MA where courts overrode the wishes of the people. In Iowa, three Supreme Court judges who ruled in favor of gay marriage were voted out of office, no doubt, in response to targeted campaigns of groups like the National Organization for Marriage.

Brian, like me, doesn't want his children to grow up in a nation where the traditional view of marriage between a man and a woman is characterized as a type of bigotry. He is good-hearted father of a robustly happy family, and hasn't a malicious bone in his body, despite threats of violence and ugly opposition to his right to free speech.

God bless his family and his efforts to secure a better world for all of us. Show up at their rallies to lend support. Post their information on your social networking sites.

Send donations to the National Organization for Marriage. 


Read the entire Newsweek article here. 

Eliminating the word 'retarded' is not enough

The battle against using the so-called "R-word" has occupied my friends. in the Down syndrome advocacy community. I could never get fully engaged, because of the elephant in the room: the 90% abortion rate of our children. Read more at Renew America.

New York Times Columnist Says Death Panels Needed to Fix Economy | LifeNews.com

New York Times Columnist Says Death Panels Needed to Fix Economy | LifeNews.com
Paul Krugman mocked Sarah Palin for saying that Death Panels were part of the program, and now he glibly says they are part of it.
Go figure.

Holy Father asks pro-lifers to participate in a worldwide prayer vigil Nov 27

He has never made this request before. This is a perfect way to spend the First Sunday of Advent, preparing the world for the coming of He Who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.
Mark your calendars.
LIfe Site News reports:

Earlier this year Pope Benedict XVI announced the worldwide vigil, and urged all dioceses around the world to participate as much as they are able.

As part of its effort to raise awareness about the event, HLI has sponsored an international petition of solidarity with the pope.

"We hope that Catholics understand the historical significance of Pope Benedict's invitation," said Joseph Meaney, HLI's director of international coordination. "The Holy Father for the first time in history has asked the Universal Catholic Church to gather together in a common liturgical event and pray for our preborn brothers and sisters who are being slaughtered around the world by abortion and other attacks of the culture of death."

HLI said that it is inviting all who want to join Pope Benedict and the universal Church in the vigil to sign a pledge of solidarity at yes-for-benedict.net.

Read the story at Life Site News.

The Makeover of the Female Politician

Is up at Catholic Vote blog.

New religious order Sisters of the Gospel of Life

Just as many religious owed their vocations to their experience at World Youth Day in the USA in 1992, the Holy Father's visit to the United Kingdom is bearing much fruit. Here is the first new order of sisters in Scotland in 150 years, dedicated to healing the Culture of Death brought about by contraception and abortion.
They are called "Sisters of the Gospel of Life" and have three members so far.

She (Founding Sister Roseann) said that the foundation of her religious community stemmed “from a need of the times” to address the damage done to women and society by abortion and the contraceptive mentality.

“When we didn’t have the education system that we have now, the great teaching orders evolved. When we didn’t have the social services we have now, all the groups like the Daughters of Charity (of St. Vincent de Paul) all came. When we didn’t have the medical system, that’s when the nursing orders came.

“So that’s where our order stems from. From a need of the times. For us, the greatest need was to uphold and defend human life from the moment of conception, to attack this ‘culture of death’.

This is a wonderful development for the Catholics of Scotland, I know how much New Yorkers have been enriched by the wonderful Sisters of Life. 

Read the rest of the story at Life Site News.

The truth about Peter Singer

Some anonymous commenter said I was not truthful about Princeton ethicist Peter Singer, so I did some research.
He was right, I was being too kind. The truth is even uglier than I had imagined.He's a monstrous human being.Read this discussion of his views with quotes below and make up your own mind.

Down syndrome is usually characterized by short stature, distinctive facial features, and, as my dictionary puts it, “mild to moderate mental retardation”. Singer himself describes the condition as involving “some physical abnormalities” as well as “mild to moderate intellectual disability” (Rethinking Life & Death p. 106). There is no mention here of “severe disabilities”; Singer notes that “People at the upper end of this range [of Down-related intellectual disability] can live independently with little supervision. Others need help with managing their financial affairs, and need to be supervised when shopping, cooking or travelling outside the home.” (ibid.) Unlike migraines or arthritis, Down syndrome is not a painful condition, and people who have it do not “suffer” from it in any conventional sense.


Why, then, does Singer argue that infants born with this condition can justly be killed? Because they are “abnormal” and do not have “good prospects” (Rethinking p. 214). This notion of “prospects” runs like a mantra through Singer’s discussion of Down syndrome children: “the future prospects of life may be so bleak” (211), “the prospects are clouded” (213), and so forth. But what sort of prospects does he have in mind? On p. 213 of Rethinking he lists several activities which a person with Down syndrome will supposedly never be capable of: “to play the guitar, to develop an appreciation of science fiction, to learn a foreign language, to chat with us about the latest Woody Allen movie, or to be a respectable athlete, basketballer or tennis player.” This list reads like a parody of bourgeois myths of achievement, success, and respectability. To Singer, however, these are legitimate reasons for killing a newborn. After all, if you can’t do your own financial planning, why should you be allowed to live?

Read more at the Institute for Social Ecology website.
Apparently Singer didn't read the news story about the man with Ds that scored the game clinching touchdown. 

Important bills to restrict abortion funding in new pro-life Congress

from the Susan B Anthony List which was highly recommended by Rep Chris Smith on the EWTN program "The World Over". 

 Marjorie’s latest post up now onRedstate.com. After incredible wins for the pro-life cause last Tuesday night, it’s time to leverage our strength to achieve legislative victory for the unborn. To start off, the SBA List is supporting two bills that would end taxpayer funding of abortion: the Chris Smith/Dan Lipinski “No TaxpayerFunding for Abortion Act” and Mike Pence’s “Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act.”

We are currently promoting a petition to be sent to the newly-elected pro-life majority, encouraging them to pass these two bills right away atwww.stopabortionfunding.com.

Does this image bother you?

This lovely ad is causing controversy in Britain. It's a tragically true sign of the Culture of Death when not only he Cross of Christ, but the Babe Himself becomes a stumbling block.
Come Lord Jesus!

An ecumenical non-profit in England has come under fire for their upcoming Advent campaign designed to put Christ back into Christmas. Their crime? Creating billboards and posters that show a baby Jesus as an ultrasound, with a halo. The ads, created byChurchAds.net say: “He’s on His way. Christmas starts with Christ.”

Read Tim Drake's entire post at the NC Register blog.

Holy Father shares his heart with those with Special Needs in Spain

George W Bush's autobiography; Decision Points

True leadership in Congress arrives with Speaker of the House John Boehner

In recent opinion piece on Catholic Online, President Obama's failure in leadership was decried. A leader must, first of all, provide an example for all to follow. Character is what distinguishes a leader from a demagogue,  a leader is one to be admired and emulated,  not a hypocrite whose example belies his words.
Look at the Obama Indian junket, where it is alleged that 200 MILLION daily is being blown in renting the Taj Mahal hotel for a huge entourage of over 600 guests according to some sources.

More info on Obama’s trip to India from The Hindu:

Mr. Obama will be coming with three Boeing 747 jumbo jets and two others will be coming before him with equipment. An advance team of U.S. officials is set to arrive here on Wednesday. The U.S. is spending about $200 million a day towards Mr. Obama’s visit, the official said on Tuesday.

More details from the Daily Mail:

Forty aircraft – including the Air Force One military plane – and six heavily armoured cars will follow the president around the country.
The huge security operation comes days after a suspected bomb was found on a cargo plane at East Midlands Airport.
The entourage will be the biggest ever in terms of logistics and manpower for any US president.
The president himself will be ferried around in a black Cadillac – dubbed ‘Barack Mobile’ – which has its own built in communications centre – to enable Obama to be in touch with the White House, US vice president and the US strategic command.

 I saw evidence of this reckless overspending when I protested the President's health care plan on Martha's Vineyard, and saw the tiny island overwhelmed by cars bearing DC plates. That was a vacation? For whom, the entire government?
Congressman John Boehner recommends beginning his term of leadership by a cut in pay. For himself, and his colleagues in Congress. In tough times when people are losing hope that there will ever be jobs, this action would send a strong signal to the American public; "we understand how you have to tighten your belt, and we are doing the same". I am tired of buying Walmart brand products and wearing five year old clothing, while Obama travels more than any President in history, and the First Lady splurges on shopping sprees.
Well done, Speaker Boehner! I will be watching who opposes and who supports your efforts to lead by example. This will separate the hypocrite big spenders from the true leaders.

“It’s pretty clear that the American people want a smaller, less costly, more accountable government here in Washington,” Boehner said to reporters the day after Election Day. 

Tom Schatz, the president of Citizens Against Government Waste, said that by cutting the paychecks of members, Boehner would send the right message to voters.

Schatz explained that Republican lawmakers coming into Congress for their first term would likely support the move.

“[A salary cut] would at least indicate some greater level of understanding of the suffering that people have been subject to during this recession,” said Schatz. 

Read the entire story at The Hill. 

Search add Destroy abortion of babies with Down syndrome is from Nazi era

THE "warped practice of eugenics is rising from its Nazi tomb" in Australia, a senior Catholic bishop says.

Bishop Peter Elliott, head of Melbourne's John Paul II Institute for Marriage and the Family told mass-goers in Bendigo Cathedral on Sunday: "A seek-and-destroy policy kills little human beings in the womb because they are 'guilty' of Down Syndrome, dwarfism or other imperfection.

"They are deemed to be unfit to live for they do not come up to the standard of the 'designer baby' and a healthy, sport-loving race.

"It is no surprise that euthanasia is being strongly promoted today. Nor should it be a surprise that this is the policy of a political and ideological force that puts more value on wattle and wombats than people.

"Resurgent aggressive secularism resorts to killing as it strives to engineer, direct and control not only society, but your life and mine."

Good for Bishop Elliot, who is under fire for his bold comments at the end of this article. 


He underscores the relationship between the eugenics of the Nazi T4 program where the handicapped were taken from their homes, institutionalized and later bussed to Hartheim Castle where they were gassed to death. The search and destroy efforts of medicine are just as coolly efficient and coldly insensitive to the cries of the victims who are still considered, "life unworthy of life". 

The murder of the handicapped was a precursor to the Holocaust. The killing centres to which the handicapped were transported were the antecedents of the extermination camps, and their organized transportation foreshadowed mass deportation. Some of the physicians who became specialists in the technology of cold-blooded murder in the late 1930s later staffed the death camps. They had long since lost all their moral, professional, and ethical inhibitions.

Read more about the T4 Program here. 
Read the entire story here. 

Victory! NOM Election Results 2010 Reaction

Election holds many pro-marriage gains

A report from Brian Brown at the National Organization for Marriage. 

All I can say is: Amazing. Last night NOM helped win stunning and unprecedented victories for marriage. And we know it was because of your support.

As you have heard by now, for the first time in the entire history of judicial retention elections in Iowa, theSupreme Court justices were defeated. And not just one, but ALL THREE judges up for retention who forced same-sex marriage on the state were resoundingly defeated by roughly 54 percent. Amazing.

As I said last week speaking next to Congressman Steve King in sunny Des Moines, a victory in Iowa will send shockwaves through the political establishment. The people have spoken and they will not tolerate judges imposing same-sex marriage on the voters.  Period. And now those shockwaves are beginning to be felt. I'm getting calls from reporters around the country shocked that the people of Iowa stood up against activist judges.

 I want you to know this one fact: roughly 80 percent of the pro-traditional marriage candidates we supported won their races.  80 percent.

What does this mean?  In New Hampshire, we flipped the state legislature. And not only flipped it, but it now looks like we have veto proof majorities in both legislative houses.  Though Governor John Lynchwas able to keep his governorship, we will now fight for a vote on a constitutional amendment and a repeal of same-sex marriage in New Hampshire.  And we look forward to the legislature overriding any veto that John Lynch might attempt. 

In Iowa, the House is now in Republican hands and the governor supports allowing Iowa a vote on a constitutional amendment protecting marriage.  We will fight for a vote in Iowa and I am confident that we will win.

In Minnesota, the Governor's race is almost surely going to a recount.  Our efforts highlighting Mark Dayton's support of same-sex marriage played a big role here. But in another historic victory Republicans have taken both houses of the Minnesota legislature. Same-sex marriage will not pass this legislature. And we are now positioned to get a vote on a constitutional amendment protecting marriage.  This is huge.

In Maine, same-sex marriage will not be forced on the people under this new legislature. The legislature is now strongly in pro-marriage hands, and Paul LePage, a great supporter of traditional marriage has won the Governorship. Amazing.

While there were some setbacks--Andy Pugno's loss for California assembly and John Lynch's victory--I can honestly say that I believe this election is a turning point in the fight for marriage.  We now have the ability to roll back same-sex marriage in Iowa and New Hampshire and pass a constitutional amendment in Minnesota.

CATHOLICS DECIDE THE ELECTION

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on last night's election results:

For the past few decades, Catholics have decided who wins elections nationally. After the McGovernization of the Democratic Party in 1972, Catholics were left homeless: they felt betrayed by the Democrats and were leery of the Republicans; they have been up for grabs ever since. Last night they proved once again that of the three major religions in the U.S., they are the ones that count most: Protestants never abandon the Republicans, and Jews never abandon the Democrats.
Catholics voted 58-40 for the Republican candidates last night. This was a dramatic 20-point swing from two years ago. What caused Catholics to bolt is not clear, but there is one issue that surely played a major role: the out-of-control debt. Practicing Catholics (the others should not be counted as Catholics for polling purposes) understand the virtue of self-denial, and by extension, they value belt tightening at home. What they don't appreciate is promiscuity, be it sexual, fiscal or otherwise.

Michael Sean Winters, a liberal Catholic writer, bemoans what happened, saying that the Democratic loss means "Anti-poverty efforts are off the table." This is cause for celebration: the anti-poverty efforts of the Obama administration has resulted in a poverty rate of 14.3 percent, the highest national rate since 1994. If a jobs-centered economic plan is adopted, the poverty rate will likely decline.
Here's something to watch. The Department of Health and Human Services is now pondering whether to adopt the ACLU's initiative that would force Catholic hospitals to provide emergency abortions as a condition of receiving federal funds; this would effectively close most of them. If this were to happen, a whole lot more than six in ten Catholics would vote for the Republicans in 2012. The fact that the Obama administration is even giving this serious consideration is something that every Catholic in the nation should know about. Had last night's results gone the other way, it's a sure bet the anti-Catholic agenda would have benefited.

Jeff Field
Director of Communications
The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights

Pro-life Governors and Legislatures hold promise for gains

The historic Republican/pro-life takeover of several governorships and  state legislatures (North Carolina hasn't had a Republican Legislature since Reconstruction) holds the promise that life saving legislation like parental notification, restriction of late term abortions,  and prosecution of abortionists who flout these laws will be passed. These laws are responsible for the increasingly pro-life population and lowering the abortion rate, the great majority of gains made in the pro-life movement.

Certainly Governor-elect Sam Brownback intends to do this in Kansas. He will be missed in Washington, but his influence is needed to clean up the corruption Sibelius left behind though her cozy relationship with abortionist George Tiller. Maybe Kansas can lose its reputation as the late term abortion capitol.
Plus, governors will be responsible for redistricting and could draw election districts which favor Republicans in the 2012 election.
Several pro-life candidates offered by the Tea Party were beaten because of the Republican candidate who split the vote, but the votes are still being counted in several governor's races, including CT.
According to Life News, Thus far, pro-life candidates don’t know their fate in Alaska, Rhode Island, and Vermont — though Alaska voters appear to have re-elected pro-life Goveror Parnell.

Read the entire story at Life News.